Oldal 68 [68]
66
Dagnostaw Demski
Due to destruction, the construction of the images of the Other during wartime
is perhaps the most spectacular phenomenon of othering. It happens that during
the war people become lost in the collective consciousness, attempting to navigate
between two or more identities. They participate in cultural values, memories and
images, which have an individualised character, although it seems that a certain
pattern is repeated. A clash of collective identities forces them to make unforesee¬
able choices in a complex and polarised social space.
It appears that it is the inhumanity of the times, their cruelty, and the injus¬
tice and uncertainty of circumstances, together with a polarisation of wartime
attitudes, that give colour to the visual representations. The living images evoke
speechlessness, shock or anger on the part of their viewers and the survivors who
witnessed the events in reality, but also, similarly, the next generations. Originally,
these images were employed for propaganda reasons or for documentation, and yet
they are still perceived by the next generations as an impulse that prompts insight
into inhuman events.
The fact that they were active agents in the mythical time—at turning point
of history—made them become alive. However, on the other side, as stressed by
Feona Attwood et al (2013: 8), “controversial status rests not so much on their [the
images] content as on the way in which that representation embodies an informa¬
tion system and a political order in which power is exercised through the choice
of particular ways of making the camp visible while making others invisible”. The
controversial nature of an image was decided by politics, i.e. with the passage of
time the meaning ascribed to a given image loses its force, as what was invisible
before becomes part of everyday life. The instrumental use of them enhances their
potential impact.
As Dario Gamboni states: “the choice of weapons were consciously derived
from the kind of battle being fought” (Gamboni 1997: 90). Did the images of the
Other reflect the nature of the new revised relationship between the collective con¬
sciousness and the Other? Usually, they reflected a sense of resentment, prejudice
and fear. Iconoclasm and propaganda belong to a separate order, although they
have common features, for example, they destroy false images.
Apart from the acts and objects, another significant issue will also be the manner
in which this act of destruction is condemned or described by the victims, saying
a lot about the event and its significance. Analysing the most common picture
types it is possible to learn what is important for the nations and countries engaged
in war: as Gamboni would say, these acts can be seen as barbaric, primitive,
blasphemous, blind; as criminal, idiotic or ignorant; as a propaganda weapon,
as regressive, vulgar or as acts of vandalism (a term comparable to iconoclasm:
administrative, constructive, embellishing, personified, restorative vandalism).
As representations, caricatures also serve as visual commentaries on reality. In
contrast, the photographic records provide material evidence understood as real.
As Susan Sontag puts it, “something becomes real (...) by being photographed”.